my.requiescence.

Roasted Quail with Grapes and Chestnuts

Looks like there may be quite a White Christmas in Boston this year! I have seen snowflakes in the forecast for over a week now, but as the days passed, the real snowflakes never really manifested (minus the few that fluttered about on my birthday). 

Inbound, Red Line, Longfellow Bridge.

Charles River. freezing.

ummm… SNOW!!!!

Until today. The snow has been lightly, but steadily falling since late this morning, and there was already an inch or so accumulated by the time I slip-and-slided walked home! It’s kind of exciting- the first snow of the winter- I almost can’t wait to see what kind of white wonderland we will wake up to tomorrow!

Speaking of Christmas, this will be the first year (out of 29!!) where I will not be home with my parents for Christmas. There was that one year, when I was visiting with my uber-adventurous cousin Emily in Peru, but I still flew back on Christmas Day, just in time to be picked up from the airport on the way to annual Christmas Lunch with Emily’s family and friends (minus Emily, as she was still traipsing around the islands of Lake Titicaca- and no, I’m totally not making that name up, even I am not THAT good). It’s a strange feeling… and though I was just home less than a month ago, it feels… just weird.. to not be preparing to see family and friends and having to send cards and presents via the good old-fashioned way instead of just packing them in my luggage.

*p.s. To those dear friends and family members… the gifts will be late, as I have never had to send them before, I procrastinated as usual and still don’t have all my Xmas shopping done totally did not factor in the time it would take for the post office to get things from this side of the country to that side.

Instead of Christmas in California, it will be my first Christmas in Virginia (which has ALREADY experienced snow last week!) with Andreas and his family. I am looking forward to being around a close-knit family for Christmas and experiencing their Christmas traditions-especially for the tradition started last year, where Andreas, his brother, and his father (and some extremely helpful hunting dogs) hunt game birds. Andreas assured me that with his expert marksmanship, we could expect an impressive bounty this year to prepare for dinner.. so of course, we test-drove a new recipe to find a suitably Christmas-worthy (read: TASTY) preparation for quail.

Last year for Thanksgiving we fried quails to crispy perfection. This year I found this recipe, which includes a cognac-based sauce that is very similar (almost identical) to the one we frequently make to glamorize our steaks (and believe me, it DOES). But it also interestingly included green grapes and roasted chestnuts, and since this IS the “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” time of the year, it seemed quite serendipitous.

The little birds are pan-roasted and then finished in the oven, though we found that if the birds are small (and de-boned), they could probably be cooked entirely in the pan and this would also increase the crispyness of the final product. And we all know crispy skin = good to eat. The sauce is flavored with thyme and cognac, made smooth and lustrous with cream, and reduced until it is rich and syrupy. Roasted chestnuts and sweet green grapes are cooked briefly with the sauce and though their flavors don’t seem to infuse the sauce too much, the grapes are sweet and provide interesting contrast with the very savory sauce and bird. Looking forward to Christmas (and quails!) in Virginia!

Roasted Quail with Grapes and Chestnuts
adapted from Gourmet 2004, via epicurious
serves 4 (or Andreas and me)

8 whole quail (about 6 ounces each) (we cooked 6)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup peanut oil or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 cup Cognac (* we halved the amount of sauce, and so halved all the ingredients from this point on)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (16 fluid ounces)
1/2 cup crème fraîche (used heavy cream instead)
6 ounces seedless green grapes (about 18, we only used 10 as ours were very large, and we cut them in half)
18 roasted chestnuts (from a 7 1/4-ounce jar or peeled roasted fresh- we roasted ours)

 

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Remove and discard any feathers from quail, then remove necks if necessary with poultry shears and discard (this time ours were pre-feathered, de-necked, and breatbones removed as well… when the time comes in Virginia, I will let Andreas do all these things). Rinse quail inside and out and pat dry, then sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil and butter in a deep 12-inch heavy ovenproof skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then brown quail on all sides, 12 to 15 minutes total. (we did about 10 min total) Transfer to a large plate.
4. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet, then sauté carrot, onion, and thyme over moderately high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 2 minutes.
5. Return quail (with any juices on plate) to skillet with vegetables and roast, breast sides up, in oven until just cooked through (cut into an inner thigh; meat will still be slightly pink), about 10 minutes (about 5 minutes). Transfer quail to a platter and loosely cover with foil.
6. Add Cognac to vegetables in skillet and boil 1 minute, then add broth and boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 6 minutes. Stir in crème fraîche (heavy cream) and simmer until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.
7. Pour sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on and discarding solids, then pour back into skillet. (Alternatively, you could, as we did, just scoop out all the solids you can, and anything left is just extra goodness!) Add grapes and chestnuts and simmer, stirring occasionally, until heated through and grapes turn a shade lighter, about 3 minutes. Transfer grapes and chestnuts to platter with quail, then boil sauce until thick enough to lightly coat back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, then spoon some sauce over quail and serve remainder on the side.